I am trying to use this blog to give you an idea of my process, which can sometimes be difficult to vocalise, so bear with me.
During past projects I would sometimes read something or meet someone and it would be almost like divine intervention. However, if I am really truthful I think that one of the great things about working on a project of this nature is that you can really open yourself up to ideas and immerse yourself in your thoughts. Rather than divine intervention breakthroughs actually come from a greater awareness or paying attention, to put it simply. I know many artists who use sketchbooks like its their right arm but for me I have never really got on with writing my thoughts and ideas down in a traditional way. It might be a dyslexia/visual thinking thing or maybe its just the way I do things but I like to keep all the thoughts and ideas in my head, sort of floating around. Although, and this might sound a bit crazy, I can visualise them all and I keep each topic separate, a bit like a huge mind map in my head. If I am lucky, they will eventually start to join up and you get a breakthrough, its a bit like matching socks. I have had a couple of weeks with lots of ideas floating about. Mostly, I keep coming back to the similarities of the manuscripts, holding all those stories, memories, information etc and the process of human memory. But, I can't quite get to the bottom this idea and I am still researching like crazy. On Tuesday I left my reading on the dangers of gall ink destroying manuscripts and all my floating thoughts to join John Page at the Town Hall for a recording. But, as we went in the hall we met the local Alzheimers Society Singing for the Brain group (You may have heard that even when the brain has been badly affected by Alzheimers the words of songs remain preserved by the musical pathways). The meeting immediately reminded me of when I was still at college I had a Saturday job working in a local old peoples home. There was one lady who couldn't talk and would spend most of the day walking around seemingly unaware of her surroundings and making noises but not forming words. She was a very gentle soul and seemed quite happy, so we would busy ourselves caring for the residents around her and getting on with the day. But, every now and then she would stand in the middle of the day room and sing opera, and it sounded amazing. Everything would stop as we all listened to her beautiful soprano voice and then she would finish and resume her wandering and we would return to our work. Apparently she had been an opera singer when she was young and I still marvel at not only all of the words and tunes that were still with her but the extreme joy she received and passed to us in those few moments. In telling you this story I have also realised that of all the people I cared for I can still remember her name and see her face yet it was many years ago and we never exchanged a single word. So there is my lightbulb moment. My joining up of ideas. To me there exists a very obvious metaphor between the page and the brain. Our memories are written across the pages though over time some of those words may get damaged but, it can only take a few of those words that remain to spark a new memory of its own - I will share a bit more about that next time.
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I am starting a shopping list of the things I need to buy and the people I need to speak to about some of the traditional crafts on display in the Museum. On my journey through the artefacts I keep looking at this slate fragment held in the Victorian School Room display. Knowing a bit more about the museums archives I suspect there may be documents that relate to William and his life after he left the school, we might even find an entry in the Workhouse records - but I hope not.
It is going to be fascinating for me to research the traditional crafts used to create many of the written words held by the museum, but I think it will be as interesting to look at the stories contained, even on a fragment of slate. Item 1 on my shopping list is slate - so I am off to the reclamation yard I am really beginning to see the museum in a different way. Previously I think I was guilty of visiting a museum and seeing it as being filled with interesting artefacts from someone else's pasts. However, as I am now going to Axbridge Museum looking to create a body of work I am looking at the artefacts as a craftsperson. As such, I am seeing a huge collection of traditional crafts, most of which I have no idea how to recreate, but some of which could be very relevant for this work.
Without sounding too conceited I can make stained glass panels (long story) but I have no idea how to paint and fire glass. Let alone how it was done in the 15th Century, as pictured above. I do know, because John Page has told me, that glass was very expensive so to risk it breaking during firing must have been extremely risky. Perhaps finding more out about these ancient crafts might help me develop my own work? ,One of the things I am discovering in this research phase, is how difficult life could be for the poor. There is a beautiful display on the top floor of the museum with many fascinating copies of some of the old documents held by The Axbridge & District Museum Trust.
Included here are a couple of examples of how hard life was for the poor (to give you a valuable tip it helps to replace the f for an s as in 'affect', shown above which of course is assent. I know it's not good to gloat but I wanted to share photos from my daily commute with you - sorry. I am aware that this isn't strictly a post about my project but I like to think you may benefit from the views anyway.
Having narrowed down my research I spent a very energetic half an hour working on a mind map for the project. I always feel that this method of emptying your thoughts is really important in the creative process and its strange to see how things you were thinking about link up. I thought I would share my very messy mind map with you so you can get and idea of some of the methods I use in my research.
I have spent many hours looking at, thinking about and generally trying to work out what direction this project will take. The main problem is that the Museum, and its Volunteers hold such an enormous wealth of information that it becomes almost impossible to choose one part of the collection and focus only on that. During my pondering I have also spent quite a long time looking at a little stained glass window, halfway up the winding staircase. It is very hard to photograph, partially due to the bars in front but also due to the combination of my clumsy nature and the stairs During one of my thinking sessions I decided to use the trusty services of google translate to work out what the inscription 'Dum Spiro Spero' means and it was like a key unlocking the puzzle 'While I Breathe, I hope'. It amazing how the words convey so much more meaning and I feel that is the key to unlocking the Museum's collection - the words; the stories they contain, the lives they touch and the knowledge they hold. The Museum and its collection is full of them, many of the documents are hundreds of years old and extremely fragile yet so important to the area.
As an Artist I have a slight fascination with words and stories and it seems they have featured in much of my work. I still can't quite believe how lucky I am to have this job and now it seems that I can use the time to really look at the traditional crafts used to create many of the museums documents and maybe share a few of the stories with you. I wanted to take a bit of your time to introduce you to the Museum which, interestingly goes by a couple of different names; Axbridge and District Museum and King John's Hunting Lodge. I am reliably informed by the Museums experts that the building has no actual links to King John but I did want to share a few images of the building which, King or not, is still worthy of a visit.
I am very happy to tell you that I have been appointed as Axbridge & District Museum's resident artist for the Summer. The project runs in the Museum until October 2017 and will form part of Somerset Art Weeks.
This blog will form part of my project and I will be posting about my progress and hopefully adding a few tutorials which I hope you will find interesting. |
What's On
The work created for the Muse project will remain in the Museum until 31st October and can be seen from 1pm-4pm daily. Andrea Oke is a Somerset based artist who is fascinated by human behaviour and its links to memory. For more information please to to my websiteArchives
December 2017
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